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Stephanie Link: Why I'm Not Giving up on Panera

I am sticking with my recommendation of a Panera turnaround - and think this multi-year restructuring will eventually lead to better earnings and growth. It may not happen in the next quarter or two, but I believe it will happen and for those who have a little longer term horizon the stock is a buy.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I wrote about the recovery potential at Panera Bread (PNRA) a little over a month ago, on Feb. 21. At the time the stock was at $181.18 and I liked the risk reward for the turnaround story in 2014. The company held its analyst meeting on Tuesday and although it reiterated 2014 earnings and revenue targets, it suspended the longer term guide of 15% to 20% which sent shares spiraling lower by 8.5% on the day. I am an investor and I care very much about my recommendations and I own up to the good and the bad. Obviously, after Wednesday, a follow up is needed.

I think the stock overreacted Wednesday fueled by the quarter and month end selling pressure by PMs as well as just a complete bashing of high multiple stocks (Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG), Twitter (TWTR), Priceline (PCLN), Netflix (NFLX), etc.). I don't think 20x forward estimates are considered a "high flyer", but it tends to trade with that group. Clearly, the news wasn't what folks were looking for, but when I issued my first recommendation in the stock, I wasn't looking for a "beat and raise" analyst meeting. I just liked the high quality assets, management team, strong balance sheet and depressed share price. Is it cheap? Not considering the 2% to 4% same-store sales it will put up this year. But it is attractive looking out to 2015 when a lot of the investments kick in and lead to better results.